The Shambhala Sun (www.shambhalasun.com) publishes articles and book excerpts from some of the most well known contemporary Buddhist and spiritual teachers and writers such as The Dalai Lama, Karen Armstrong and Pema Chodron. This is an excerpt from a book by Sharon Salzberg entitled Real Happiness and discusses a very straightforward reasoning and approach for meditation:
http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3683&Itemid=0
Here is an interview with Sharon: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-2117/Q-A-with-Sharon-Salzberg-Meditation-Happiness-Lovingkindness.html
And you can download a pdf of the first chapter of Real Happiness or peruse the book as a whole here:
http://www.sharonsalzberg.com/realhappiness/look-inside
